Draft contribution to Food Manufacture – Food Safety, Cleaning & Hygiene feature
12 November 2020
David Hagelthorn, Head of Marketing at Hillbrush, the UK’s largest manufacturer of brushware and hygienic cleaning tools for the food industry comments:
“Throughout the food supply chain there are significant risks of cross-contamination, no more so than within the factory environment where raw materials and ingredients come into contact with surfaces throughout production. The COVID-19 pandemic means that cleaning regimes now need to be even more rigorous not only to minimise the risk of cross contamination from pathogenic bacteria, such as Campylobacter, E. coli, Legionella, Listeria and Salmonella, but from Coronavirus transmission between co-workers too.“Hillbrush saw a significant increase at the start of lockdown in sales of our specialist antimicrobial cleaning tools as manufacturers were keen to minimise cross contamination.
This plateaued during the height of the pandemic and in recent months, the shift has moved to increased interest in ‘shadowboards’ where cleaning tools are organised according to type and colour coding. Cleaning has become front of mind, now more than ever before.
“While most food manufacturing businesses have been fully operational during the pandemic, adapting to the ‘new normal’ means significant investment in cleaning time and resources. The reality is that cleaning costs money; it does not add value to the product and often has hidden financial impacts such as the costs of water, heating, chemicals, corrosion, monitoring and validation of cleaning.
We have found that food operators are looking for simple, practical solutions that will make cleaning regimes much simpler to implement and manage and this is reflected in the type of cleaning hardware they are purchasing too.
“Anti-microbial cleaning tools are specifically designed to prevent the growth and reduce the risk of bacterial cross-contamination, minimise foreign body contamination and support HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) and 5S (workplace organisation) best practice with colour-coded segregation. While antimicrobial cleaning tools should not replace a regular cleaning regime, they will enhance it, adding the additional level of protection that everyone is seeking in the post COVID landscape.
“Although a standard within the industry for some years, there are now specific references included in the BRC Retail Standard and UK Retailer Codes of Practice on using colour-coded cleaning tools to reduce the risk of cross-contamination in a factory environment.
Hillbrush has seen increased interest in the use of shadowboards where all coloured cleaning tools are grouped together making them easy to select (and also easy to see when they are not in their correct place). Assigning specific coloured cleaning tools to areas to control allergen usage, high-risk and low-risk factory zones, floor cleaning and food contact equipment is looked upon favourably by customers, auditors and inspectors. They demonstrate that the manufacturer takes hygiene and cleaning seriously and organises procedures effectively in their business.”
Other Press Releases By This Company
- 08/01/2024 - Natural by Hillbrush
- 08/02/2023 - Introducing the HH4 New Bag Hoop: durable, ergonomic, sustainable, lightweight, and twice the load bearing weight!
- 08/02/2022 - Supply chain challenges are hitting all manufacturing sectors due to the impact of the global COVID 19 pandemic.
- 02/08/2021 - Hillbrush brushes up on its cser with plastic bottle filaments
- 17/08/2020 - Hillbrush offers transparent mouth shields ideal for retail and hospitality
- 15/07/2020 - Hillbrush launches back to work hgyiene essentials range
